Avante International, an RFID technology provider based in Princeton Junction, N.J., is marketing a new art-management system, known as AssetGuardian, for use by art dealers, owners and insurance companies. The solution has already been deployed by a California businessman to ensure the location of and conditions around his high-value art.

Avante has offered RFID solutions for elections, access control, and staff and asset management since 1995. The firm has also developed a real-time locating system (RTLS) featuring an active 433 MHz RFID tag that employs a proprietary air-interface protocol.

In 2010, a global household products company approached Avante, seeking a system to track the location of high-value furniture within its offices, in order to provide security against theft. The RTLS software—which Avante hosted on its own server for one year, then turned over to the customer to integrate into its existing security system—worked in conjunction with Avante's active 433 MHz RFID Zoner tags with a built-in vibration sensor. The solution also came with readers (which Avante refers to as monitors), to identify where the furniture was located, says Jeffery Douglass, Avante's project manager, as well as whether it was bumped or was actually moving—with either action potentially requiring a response from management.

Avante's Jeffery Douglass

Following that installation, Avante representatives spoke with art dealers and insurance companies that provide coverage for art collections. They also met with museums to discuss the possibility of tracking the location of and environmental conditions around high-value artwork. Those conversations led to the first implementation of the AssetGuardian solution at a home belonging to a California businessman.

The businessman—who has asked to remain unnamed—has several residences containing high-value art, and requested the solution in order to provide an automated layer of security for that artwork. So far, the system has been deployed only at his primary residence in California.